


ghosts, visions, happiness

by ODed_on_jingle_jangle



Category: Dare Me (TV 2019), Dare Me - Megan Abbott
Genre: Animal Death, F/F, Friendship/Love, No Plot/Plotless, Non-Explicit Sex, Underage Drinking, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25641433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ODed_on_jingle_jangle/pseuds/ODed_on_jingle_jangle
Summary: Addy and Beth, and a series of images.
Relationships: Beth Cassidy/Addy Hanlon
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	ghosts, visions, happiness

**I.**

It’s the summer of freshman year and they’re at the bottom of the ravine, wading in the shallow end and catching crayfish in plastic pails. Addy’s wearing baggy jeans rolled up past her knees, Beth is in purple shorts ripped on one side. Their bare feet slide on slippery stones and mud squishes between their toes. It’s sort of a competition to see who can catch the most, but also sort of not, and at the end of the day, they’ll dump all the crayfish back in the water anyway. 

**II.**

They’re sharing the stomach flu just like they share everything else, shuttled in the only cramped, stuffy bathroom in the Hanlon household. Beth is bent in half over the toilet, gripping the ceramic bowl so fiercely, her knuckles have gone bleach white. Beads of sweat gather on Addy’s feverish brow like oil sizzling on a skillet, one arm slung over the edge of the bathtub as she angles her chin to aim the vomit toward the drain as much as she can. Faith is knelt wearily between them, cold compress in each hand, cupping them around the nape of each sick girl’s neck. 

**III.**

It isn’t the stomach flu this time, this time they’ve just partied too hard. They don’t know their limits yet, or perhaps they don’t care, dancing on the edge of alcohol poisoning. The Cassidy household has three spacious, full bathrooms, but instead of Beth taking one and Addy taking another, they stay together. They share the main bathroom in the hall between bedrooms. Addy is exhausted from retching, cheek smooshed to the toilet seat, a syrupy, stinking strand still dangling from her lips. Beth is snapped over the bathtub across from her, heaving like a cat with a hairball, but nothing’s coming up. 

**IV.**

It’s winter and the first snow of the season falls outside the window. It’s coming down fast and hard, and tomorrow they might have a snow day. Beth stretches on the couch, her feet in Addy’s lap. Addy casts her dulcet half-smiles as her fingers play at the fuzzy socks she’s wearing. Beth curls her toes inside them, gazing at Addy with eyes as soft as the mini marshmallows bobbing in the mug of her hot cocoa. 

**VI.**

They find a dead swan on the beach. It’s on its back, wings spread, a rotten odor making them curl their noses as its meat bakes in the summer sun. Mites crawl through its feathers, flies flitting through its empty eye sockets. The sand broils beneath their sandals and Addy pokes at its belly with a child’s discarded plastic shovel that might’ve once been used to dig a moat for a sandcastle. Beth suggests digging it a grave and they borrow a real shovel to do that. They give it a name that Addy scrawls on a rock in Sharpie and Beth places atop the mound of freshly dug earth to serve as a headstone. 

**VII.**

It’s sometime around midnight, maybe, stars smattered across an indigo sky. Beth lies on her back on the basement floor, bra loose, straps slipping down her slender shoulders, breast visible above one foam cup slid out of place. Addy hovers above her, tongue nervously darting over her lips. Beth whispers the thing she needs to hear to finally take the plunge and she does. Addy longingly ghosts her fingertips up the fading bruises on Beth’s skin, hand finally settling in the damp place between her thighs. 


End file.
